[des]

A good friend of mine who is not on the  cleaning sites is about to go from a portable to truckmount he has looked at prochem and has talked to a few carpet cleaners about hydramaster t/m but he is now looking at a bane clene system and as i do not know any thing about this set up could any one that has one or did have one give me the good points and the bad points  ,like what pressure do they give out and how good is the vac  and how reliable are they .He only does residential work .Your comments please ps any one got a second hand one for sale

[Geoff Jewkes]

Hi Des
I used banes for a few years before I went self employed.
They`re pretty good for the age of the design but will never touch a petrol T/M.
They run at about 130/ 135 Psi and use a stutorbilt blower ( like on the old prochem t/m's). The only let down is that the electric motor is limited to how fast it can drive the blower due to running off a domestic supply. You need to keep the wand in contact with the floor to keep the vac pressure up.
You can get good heat, the solution tank has an immersion heater which you leave plugged into your supply overnight to keep the water hot and it stays hot during the day when you drive your van by means of a coil in the tank which carries the van engines coolant throught it.
As far as reliability goes they're pretty good. The worst that usually goes wrong is the boot in the pump which isn't expensive to replace, and new pumps can be sourced for around £250 so you could carry a spare and change it in the event of a failiure in around 20 mins.
Servicing is easy, change the boot and 2 drive belts every 12 months.
Running costs NONE! You use customers power.
As long as you're not in a rush to get through jobs mega fast they're decent value.
A really good porty will beat them though, hope this helps, Geoff

[steve cardy]

HI Des,
Have to agree with fibre fresh on most things although i had mine from new and never had a problem with the pump in 5 years. Very reliable just the chemical rots the odd fitting and the heating of the water can be a pain. You cant compare it in performance to a petrol t/m but i would perfer it to a portable any day.
    steve

[des]

Thanks lads what model did you have ?

[steve cardy]

60 gallon mini-mount.

[carpetclean]

i once used steves bane and thought it was a step up from a porty

[des]

What my friend does not want is a low pressure machine , where he has to scrub to much  He has worked fo me and used my T/M and he likes the way its just one or two passes and the carpets clean and not having to fill up with buckets all day des

[Geoff Jewkes]

I was using a mega port. As far as the pressure goes,whats to stop anyone disconnecting the bane pump and using a 12Volt 200 psi one??  I wouldn`t suggest any higher though due to the pressure being too much for the vac. With the heat you could use an in line heater........ just means trailing another extension lead to the custys house

Geoff

[Mike Halliday]

there's no such pump made  (200psi 12v)

the Bane machine is a portable but with the convenience of a truckmount but not the power-heat-pressure.

very simple and almost maintenance free,

I cannot believe anyone would buy a new one  now, they are in the 12k range and you could buy a petrol one cheaper

Mike

[Martin_Bignell]

Hi Lads,
Why do you have to run a Bane at 130 psi?
The pump is adjustable. I run mine at 250, and have increased the motor pulley diameter to give the blower more speed more vac. Heat the water in the tank overnight to 70c then run it through an Ashby portable V2 set at 90c and you have about 75c at the jet over 150 feet of hose. All from two power cables from the customers premises.
No noise, no £4 an hour for fuel, no fresh water dumped in the waste tank, no stinking van interior, no service charges
& no breakdowns. But they are a bit minty unlees you can buy second hand.
Regards, Martin

[des]

martin what model do you run des

[Martin_Bignell]

Des,
My machine is just the base unit which I bought second hand. The water tank is one I had built with a 3k immersion heater in it 60 gallons. I havn't got all the heat exchange system that is plumbed in as most Banes but the temperature holds in the tank well enough as it is insulated and is boosted during use by the V2.
Martin.

[ABLECLEAN]

How about a Prowler? Anyone got one?

[PaulKing]

me!  just did 60 square meters of oily carpet tiles in 50 minutes, at 90c guess they are not for everyone, but considering it not much bigger than a standard portable, and on big 1000sq meter jobs we just use two of them ( handy as with a single TM you always wonder will it break down at the wrong time)